Where is everyone #5

@Lysdexis ! You got some 'splainin to do !

 

Oh yeah itll likely be only dry van freight. Not stuff that requires human interaction such as flat bed or reefer.

I dont believe we will ever see it fully. My children likely will see the day that if it's in a van there wont be a driver in the seat. And it could come down to the point where regulations make it where if it's being shipped third party it has to fit in a container. There goes your flatbed job. OD stuff may even go the way side if regulated to that point where it doesnt move it if doesnt fit in the box. We will never know just how far it will go "in the name of safety"

The trucks controlled by a computer looking at the mayonaise and the mustard on the highway along with all the other goon on the road with it. It's much more situationally aware that we are. That much is evident just by looking at the number of sensors around the truck coupled with the fact that the computer can see what's going on around the truck from these sensors faster than you or I could look in front and the side mirrors and back to front. The computer in the combine and grain buggy arent that situationally aware. Tesla already has auto pilot that will take you to your destination without you having to touch a thing. Hell you can park the car without being in it and then when you're ready to leave itll come back to you. The technology is there for the truck to drive its self already. And they've already completed one trip that was fully autonomous. From finding and brokering a load right down to the price to dispatching a truck to picking it up and delivering it. The only human interaction was to open doors and put fuel in it.

 

Apples meet oranges.

Planes are already flown on a first mile last mile basis actually. The pilot gets the plane off the ground to altitude and back down to the ground again. The plane takes care of the rest in between. They call it autopilot.

 

The problem with automated anything is, you can't predict every eventuality.

The 737 MAX is an example of bad automation on top of bad execution.

Airplanes can taxi from a ramp, take off, fly a route, land and, taxi to a ramp from onboard systems. They still require two people in the pointy end to monitor that stuff. Trains can go from coast to coast without a driver or conductor BUT, they still have engineers and conductors. Ships can sail from China to Long Beach on their own but, still have deck officers, engineers and able seaman. Automation can remove menial tasks and allow operators to focus on the big picture AND, resolve problems automation has not considered or is not equipped to manage.

When systems are designed some failure modes are included in the system, the problems lie in the failures of systems in ways that either unpredictable or caused by foreign interference. None of these are "normal" and while the system can deal with system failures, it is not able to deal with a out of parameter occurrence. Humans with insight of how a machine works can overcome some not all problems and, even in the most dire situations can often mitigate the worst outcome.

Think of this, a driverless truck looses a steer tire and it damages the sensors for the stability control/abs etc. How does the automation respond? How quickly does it convey the information to the automated trucks behind it? That simple tire issue could shut down an autonomous lane for how long? There is still a lot that has to be worked out before trucks are going to be driverless in mass. The would most likely be in dedicated lanes on terminal to terminal routes. In the end, it would reduce the need for marginal drivers/steering wheel holders that are afraid of looking in their mirrors, not folks that have to use their skills/knowledge.

 

Cheyenne Wyoming.
Debating on how far I should drive tonight lol

 

We going northbound with the cow trains

Y’all be safe and have a good weekend!

 

Just stop 1/2 way double check lol....

This one had a 477 gas V8 backed by a 5 x 4 setup. It had 2 50 gallon tanks as well, and was a little thirsty lol.

I eventually swapped the 477 for a 3208 Cat, the Cat did better on fuel but sure didn’t have the 477 torque!

Like to have a dollar for every time a dozer was hooked to it.....,

 

Navy calls it AFCS for Automatic Flight Control Systems. I used to troubleshoot those. There were seven major components to the system on a E-2C. We received one brand new from the factory that we spent hundreds of man hours over several months chasing an intermittent failure and never did get it solved. That little problem you just had with the long crank time because of a issue with an air leak is peanuts compared to how many potential problems there can be with the components in a electronic device that has electro mechanical devices in it as well. I've worked in that field a lot. Not only on the support side of troubleshooting but the manufacturing side as well. I've been employed at factories that made capacitors and also at the only factory in the US that makes amorphous metal. There were only three factories in the entire world who produce amorphous metal. One in Germany. One in Japan and the one here. All were owned by separate corporations. The one here used slitters exactly like someone posted a picture of here this week. Then I and 11 other people would operate 7 computer controlled automatic winding machines to make different sizes of " cores" ( products ) out of the steel foil that we poured into foil earlier before we slit it into various size widths. We made three different sizes of the foil when we cast it. I've talked about these procedures and processes here before. The automatic winding machines had to be weigh each core and the computer would adjust the number of winds that it seemed was needed to make the next core. There are very tiny variations of thickness of the ribbon ( foil ) that can cause a finished core to be out of spec and therefore junk. Those would be melted again and recast.
The myriad of issues with those automatic winders would fill a small book. One winder machine in particular was such an awful thing full of flaws and issues that the other three shifts shut it down and until I would be back in 12 hours or 48 or whatever they would just leave it shut off. I was the only one who gave enough of a dam to even make an effort to get some production out of it.
The corporation finally out sourced the winding process overseas to India.
Instead of making several hundred ( or 50 ) cores an hour ( times vary depending on size and problems ) it's cheaper to have someone operate a foot treadle and spot weld them by hand ( and foot ).

The major point is that Hi Tech has limits. Same as everything else in the physical realm.

 

Everyone still alive around here?